At Least it was More Fun Than the Meeting
by XXPay4XtraShippingsXX
Summary: In which Ladybug and Chat Noir have to deal with renewed villains, a slanderous newspaper, and a trip to New York with Chloé Bourgeois. Spoilers for both shows.
1. Crashing the Meeting

Adrien really did not like meetings. He especially hated being dragged to them by his father in a halfhearted attempt to get Adrien to "learn the family business" or "bond" or whatever his dad rationalized it to be. Either way, here he was, sitting in a group of stuffy men and women who were coming up with ideas for perfume. The only person remotely close to Adrien's age was a solemn russet-haired man sitting across from him. And _he_ still looked to be a young adult at the least. Adrien had caught a glimpse of his ID badge—it said "Harold Osborn."

Adrien stared at the wooden table in front of him. His stomach rumbled, unnoticed by the droning voices in the background. Of _course_ this wouldn't be a meeting that involved food of any kind. He did not dare mention this to his father beside him, of course. He only hoped he would be able to last until they got home, where he could maybe fix himself a sandwich.

The fourteen year old suppressed a sigh. He wished he could be Chat right now, swinging across the buildings without a care in the world. No need to force an expression or to be perched quietly on the edge of the chair like a pigeon. Adrien wondered if Ladybug was patrolling right now.

It was funny how these people could talk for hours and yet not really say any words. Adrien knew they were speaking, yet it all sounded like background noise. Not to mention, a lot of these people spoke in languages he barely—if at all—understood. Some Spanish, some German, and a ton of English. Only one man spoke in Chinese, and only Adrien's father and a few others spoke in Adrien's native tongue of French.

The latter language was being spoken by the russet-haired Osborn before him. He caught a few words—"science" and "perfume" and "superhuman." The last one caused several people to start.

Adrien saw his father stand up. "Not again...Enough of this, Osborn! Whatever your petty worry is with this 'superhuman' garbage, we are not going to debate anything of the sort in this meeting! We have repeatedly discussed this!"

Harold Osborn stood up as well. He replied in a fierce, indignant tone. Adrien's clumsy grasp on English did not allow him to catch what the man had said. But judging by the expression on his father's face, it was not pleasant. He yelled back in English, which was choppier than that of the foreigner. From what Adrien gathered, his father had up and told the Osborn man to leave, and that they did not want his ridiculous scientific notions in this meeting.

The others in the meeting seemed to agree, and Osborn colored in fury. He gathered his things and stormed out. The door slammed.

Adrien sighed, breaking his emotionless facade for just a moment. He knew what happened when people stormed out—they got akumatized. That was just common by now. Chat Noir was going to have to clean up yet another mess. He only hoped that this perfume villain would not be as musical as Princess Fragrence...

Adrien caught his father looking at him, and assumed a neutral expression at once. He inwardly cursed himself for showing emotion like that. Emotion never worked well with his father around.

It seemed to work, and his father turned his attention to the others. They agreed to take a short break to compose themselves, and then the long and boring meeting would resume...

* * *

For the first time in his career as a villain, Hawkmoth found his services being summoned. By an American, no less.

"You give people powers, and I need them. Answer me, Hawkmoth!"

"Greetings, my troubled friend. I heard your request, and I am happy to oblige."

"Finally."

Hawkmoth smiled. "Such anger flows through you. Such a desire for vengeance. Your new name will be—"

"No. I already have one on reserve."

"I can't say I would recommend—"

"I didn't ask for your opinion," said the voice of the man about to be akumatized. "I asked for those powers!"

Hawkmoth clenched his fists. This person was treating him like a child, which the butterfly villain despised. But someone so motivated as to willingly demand his services was not to be ignored. "You'll get them. In return, I require the Miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir—her earrings and his ring."

"Consider it done."

* * *

Adrien wanted to fall asleep. The meeting was _still going_ and it seemed like the business with the Osborn man only served to prolong it. After the break, it was agreed that an hour would be added to the meeting. It was getting harder and harder to stay awake, and therefore it was getting increasingly difficult to act like he cared _at all_ about what was going on. _Homework_ wasn't this slow-paced.

Adrien managed a peek at his watch. 20.46. It felt like so much later than that. Surely his father wouldn't keep him past 21.00, right? Growing boys needed sleep, right? Glumly, he hid a yawn. Adrien severely doubted that he would even be home before 21.30, at least. He almost _wanted_ an akuma attack to happen.

As if on cue, the meeting was interrupted with a loud explosion and the wall bursting. Rubble flew everywhere. Adrien ducked beneath the table to avoid getting hit. He could see polished shoes running around frantically from his place. He heard someone cackle.

"Good evening, boys and girls! _I_ am the Green Goblin!"

Right on time.

Adrien saw two purple boots land on the floor. They obviously belonged to the enemy, as they seemed to take deliberate paces around the room. "You all seem to have upset a certain Mr. Osborn..."

"Of course," mumbled Adrien. It was the first thing he had said all night.

"And the Green Goblin does not take kindly to that!" He was speaking in French, now. However, so had Kung Food—and _he_ had spoken mostly Chinese as Cheng Shifu.

A pair of legs was tearing towards the door. Adrien saw a flash of orange and heard a recorded screech before the door exploded. It was now rubble—rubble impossible to exit.

"Mm-mm-mm! Now, now, Mrs. Ovino. We can't be attempting to escape justice!" For good measure, Adrien supposed, the other door was blown up as well. The akuma cackled again.

Adrien grunted. He needed to transform, and fast. But not here—Adrien had to escape somehow, or everyone would probably figure out that the blond adolescent boy in a cat costume that came out of nowhere was probably the blond adolescent that had mysteriously vanished."But where..." mumbled Adrien. His best bet was the busted open side of the building, but they were on a high floor. He couldn't very well jump out and transform that way. The intruder had used a flying machine of some sort...maybe Adrien could steal it? No, no, too dangerous. The akuma had blown up parts of the building just for trying to get through doors.

Adrien knew Ladybug would come soon. It went without saying. Ladybug seemed to like his civilian self a good bit—she could certainly get him down. He felt a little bad about wanting to use her like that, but Chat Noir would be more of an asset than Adrien ever would be. So, he waited.

The Green Goblin ranted a little bit about denying genius ideas, and then he explained that with the help of a new pal— _Hawkmoth_ , Adrien thought angrily—he would take over Paris with his new formula.

"You won't get away with this," said Adrien's father.

The Green Goblin looked at Mr. Agreste with a curious expression—almost as if he knew him from somewhere else. Then, the akuma grinned again. "Of course I will, _Gabe_. Just watch me!" He laughed.

Adrien had never in his life heard of his father being called "Gabe," except by Adrien's mother. As such, the man actually turned a furious red. Adrien was just surprised that he had showed any emotion at _all_. But then, Mr. Agreste managed to calm himself, settling to give the Green Goblin the neutral, hardened stare that Adrien knew well.

Then the akuma put a hand on his long chin. "But first, I need to do a little housekeeping," he added as an afterthought. "Much as I'd love to make nice little examples of those who cross me, I need to keep you all here so I can lure out a certain few...superheroes." He seemed disgusted by the word. "You know the ones. That little cat and the Spider-Man ripoff."

"Excuse you!"

Adrien sighed in relief.

Ladybug landed neatly next to the villain. Adrien could only see her legs (he had to slap himself to keep from admiring them), but he figured she was smiling her usual confident smile and twirling her yo-yo. "I know you didn't just call me a Spider-Man ripoff."

"Why not? You're both red, you both swing around, you're both annoying bugs, and you're both going to feel the wrath of the Green Goblin!"

Adrien heard grunting and saw Ladybug's feet leave the ground. He caught the girl's murmur of, "where is he," before he saw her feet hit the ground near the table.

"Everyone, I'm going to get you out of here," promised the heroine. Adrien hear her gasp as she leapt away. He dove away in fear of a bomb landing there, but it luckily landed a bit away.

"Enough waiting," said Plagg from inside Adrien's coat pocket. "These boring people need you!"

Adrien groaned quietly. He just prayed nobody would connect the dots—at least Ladybug hadn't seen him. He whispered for Plagg to transform him, and to do it without a lot of flashing lights.

A moment later, Chat Noir appeared on the ceiling. A bomb had hit the table right after his transformation, and he had used the ensuing smoke to hide himself from view. He extended his staff to whack the akuma from behind.

The Green Goblin looked around furiously, while Ladybug exclaimed, "It's about time!"

Chat Noir chuckled. "Was my lady getting impatient?"

"You moron! I was waiting for you for a whole minute before I decided to step it!"

"Not everyone can politely leave a situation as you, Bugaboo!"

"Ah, young love," chortled the akuma. "But everyone knows what happened to Romeo and Juliet!" He hurtled a pumpkin bomb in both of the heroes' directions.

"We are not a couple!" screeched Ladybug.

Chat Noir landed next to her. He leaned on his staff with a flirty expression. "You'll warm up to the idea someday!"

"Cut the romance chitter-chatter, and help me look for the akuma!"

Chat grimaced. "But the guy's wearing a full-body suit! Uhh..." He thought back to Osborn. _Think, Chat! What was he wearing?_

He had been wearing a suit and tie, nothing unordinary for a businessman...maybe the ID badge?

"I think it's the glider," mentioned Ladybug. "It's what stands out from the s—LOOK OUT!"

Chat Noir broke from his reverie to see several—were those Batarangs?—flying in their direction. He grabbed his staff and twirled it in front of them to block the weapons. The cat-themed hero leaped and landed on the overturned table. "You call Ladybug a ripoff, but you so stole those from Batman!" he taunted.

"Thanks for defending my image," called Ladybug from afar. Chat Noir just grinned.

The Green Goblin huffed. "That was nothing like Batman!"

"They were bat objects that you threw at people, that exploded. They're Batarangs," said Chat Noir.

"No. They had pumpkins."

"No no no. If a yo-yo and webbing are similar enough to make _me_ a ripoff of Spider-Man, then a pumpkin Batarang and a regular Batarang are similar enough to say that you're stealing Batman's weapons," said Ladybug.

"Fine. If you say you're not a ripoff of Spider-Man, then you're not a ripoff of Spider-Man," conceded the akuma. "But you _are_ both bugs. And I _hate_ bugs! DIE!" With a malicious screech, he hurtled a plethora of bombs in their directions. His grin was manic and yellow eyes gleaming.

"Chat!" shrieked Ladybug.

"I'm okay, My Lady!" called Chat Noir as he dodged bombs like a pro. Well, in his eyes, anyway.

"Not that! Remember? The glider!"

"Kinda busy!" The bombs did not let up. Chat Noir looked over at the hostages for the first time since his transformation.

His father stuck out. He looked frantic—and Adrien had never seen his father frantic before. He seemed to be looking for something—or someone.

Chat Noir wondered if his father was looking for _him._ As if Gabriel Agreste showed any emotion except disdain for his son nowadays.

Using his staff, the black cat launched himself across the room. He whirled around and screeched, "Cataclysm!" His right hand adopted the familiar black glow of the power of destruction.

But the Goblin was ready for him. "Uh-uh-uh!" He aimed a Not-Batarang at the ceiling.

Chat Noir paused and blinked. "Uh, you missed?"

"Did I?"

The leather-clad superhero shrieked as he saw a chandelier fall right around him. It was big enough that it formed a perfect prison. How uncharacteristically lucky. "HEY!"

"I forgot until just now," said the Green Goblin, "that _you've_ got your own feline counterpart in New York, too! And here I was hoping you'd be feeling left out. Her name is Black Cat and everything! I'd give her your number if you weren't so tied up with the insect over here," he quipped, pointing with a thumb at Ladybug. He casually threw several weapons at her to avoid.

Chat only growled.

"Well, either you're going to use your special power on _that_ ," said the Goblin, gesturing to the chandelier, "or you'll just sit and wait for someone to save you while I take _her_ earrings!" He sauntered away, and left Chat to swat at the air.

But then, Ladybug swung in with a saw in her hands. "Lucky I had this, huh?"

"Lucky Charm?" guessed Chat.

"Obviously," replied Ladybug. She turned around to dodge a pumpkin Batarang. She dropped the saw on the ground and used her foot to slide it, under an opening, to Chat. "Be careful!" She ran off.

Chat snatched the saw and tried his best to maneuver it with his left hand. Using his right would cause the saw to break, as Cataclysm was still activated. Somehow, the hero managed to cut a small hole in the side of the chandelier. He leapt through and made a beeline for the glider that the Green Goblin had used.

The Green Goblin saw this, of course. He just about _flew_ toward the boy, but he was stopped by Ladybug's yo-yo wrapping around his middle. He did manage to throw one more bomb in Chat's direction.

The bomb sailed right towards Chat. He closed a hand around the glider just as the bomb made impact. The bomb's screech was outshone by the furious screech of the akuma, and by Ladybug's terrified yell.

The smoke cleared. Chat Noir laid, groaning, on the ground next to the currently disintegrating glider. A black butterfly flew out.

The Green Goblin was enveloped in dark magic for a moment before he was released into his original self. And he was...

...Not Harold Osborn. Chat's jaw dropped.

But Ladybug did not know this, and would not have cared if she did. Her job was not done. She launched her yo-yo at the butterfly and purified it. "Bye bye, little butterfly," she said as it flew away. She then snatched the saw Chat had used to cut his way out of the chandelier. She threw it into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" she exclaimed.

Before the businessmen's and businesswomen's eyes, everything went back to normal. The holes in the building were repaired, the chandelier was fixed and returned to the ceiling, and even the table was flipped back over.

Ladybug heard a groan, and looked back to see Chat standing up. She ran to him and grasped his shoulders. "Chat?! Are you okay?"

"Me? I'm okay," said Chat. "Don't worry. Your purifying thing fixed me up, and it wasn't even that bad to begin with. So as much as I love it when you hold me, My Lady, you can let go if you want."

Ladybug released Chat Noir after a moment's hesitation. She let out a breath. "Don't do reckless things like that," she got out.

"What use would I be if I didn't?" laughed Chat. He raised a fist. "Pound it?"

Ladybug smiled. She bumped his fist with hers. "Pound it."

Chat turned his attention to the blond man sitting on the floor. "So," he said, "who _are_ you?"

"Nobody," was the smooth reply. The man stood up. "I've caused you all enough trouble," he said in French. "And for that, I apologize..."

But the door burst open at that moment.

It was the real Harold Osborn.

His eyes were huge and he was pointing a trembling finger at the heroes. He said something in English in a quivering voice. He looked deathly pale, like he had seen a ghost.

"What's he saying?" whispered Chat to Ladybug.

"I think he's saying, 'I saw him,' over and over," said Ladybug.

"Ahh, so Ladybug is an English-speaker, then?"

"Oh, knock it off. Plenty of French girls learn English in school. It's not exactly a hard phrase, anyway. Now, shush. Now he's saying...oh, that's strange."

"What?"

"He's saying, 'Where is he? Where is my father?' But who's his father?"

Chat felt something in the back of his mind. A sort of recognition of some kind. All this was starting to sound...familiar...

Aha!

"Norman Osborn!" burst out Chat Noir. Everyone looked at him.

Ladybug gave Chat a curious glance.

Chat Noir pointed at the blond man. "Norman Osborn," he repeated. "That's you, isn't it? The news said you died, but they never found a body...classic comic book fakeout."

Both French and non-French speakers looked mostly confused. The blond man, however, looked livid. Obviously, he was exactly who Chat Noir said he was.

But Harold Osborn—who seemed to have gathered enough from Chat's exclamation despite not speaking French—his expression probably did not even have a name. It went from unbelieving to happy to furious to sad to terrified, and repeat.

Ladybug waved her hands to get Chat's attention, ignoring the beeping from her earrings. "Hey, uh, Chat, how do you know this is that Norman guy?"

"Well, I didn't until Harold burst in. Then I remembered something my d—erm—something I read in the newspaper once," he said. In reality, Adrien's father had told him about this story a few years ago, back when they were closer. Having been close to the head of Oscorp in business relations, Gabriel had somehow obtained some very hush-hush information about it all. Even now, Chat didn't know how he'd done it. Maybe he'd stumbled upon a file or something.

Young Adrien—about nine then—had been enraptured by the tale of that strange American, Norman Osborn, who dressed like a goblin and battled a guy in a spider suit. It sounded like a comic book story. "This man," continued Chat, "was once the head of Oscorp, a company that was represented in this meeting...probably," he added in an attempt to distance himself. "But during this time, his son was found to have been flying around under the name of the Green Goblin and totally screwing everything up." It felt nice to talk like a teenager again, and in front of the same people who would have harshly judged Adrien for doing so.

Norman and Harold stared at Chat Noir with horrified expressions. "That...wasn't released to the presses," stammered Norman.

"But guess what? It wasn't his son! It was him—Norman Osborn—prancing around in a goblin costume and terrorizing New York! And soon after the big reveal, he flew into a dumpster full of his own bombs! Of course, at the _time_ , everyone thought he had died. Looks like he didn't.

"How...how could you have guessed that?" trailed Norman.

"Yeah, I'd like to know, too," said Ladybug. She was mighty impressed with her partner's sleuthing skills.

Chat Noir placed his hands on his hips with a confident smile.

"I guessed."

Ladybug smacked her forehead.

Chat Noir heard a familiar beeping noise. He looked at his ring and yelped. "Crap! I'm about to change back!"

"Me too," said Ladybug. "Adieu!" She ran through one of the doors leading outside.

Chat Noir bowed to the ladies and gentlemen he had helped to save. "Now, I must take my leave as well. So long! Be sure to have this man _Agreste-_ ed and all. Get it? It's a play on your last name, Monsieur," he said, pointing to his father.

Gabriel Agreste's eyebrows were creased in an agitated frown—not at all the expression someone would wear after being saved. "I don't want to hear puns. I want to find my son. He is still missing!"

Chat nearly fell over. So his father _was_ worried about him! "Oh, him? He's fine. I saw him escape through a vent while you all were distracted. No problem-o. Now I _reeeally_ gotta go!" He rushed past the Osborns, who looked like they were still trying to figure everything out. Norman looked furious at being discovered while Harold was trying to have a reunion with a man he had thought dead (Chat felt a twinge of sympathy for the young man—though the dark glare that Harold shot at Chat quickly demolished that feeling).

Chat managed to get to the stairs before he turned back into Adrien. He looked around. Nobody had seen. Deciding to play it safe, Adrien went down a floor and rode the elevator up to where he originally was. He took a deep breath. He walked into the room, made a beeline for his father, and tapped his shoulder.

"Erm, Father, I ran out when that crazy green guy was throwing things, is everything okay...?"

His father whirled around in surprise. "Adrien!" he said.

"I tried to get back in, but the exits were closed and—"

For the second time in the last month, Adrien found himself wrapped in a hug from his father.

Gabriel Agreste, lately, was a cold man. He spoke tersely and bluntly to anyone, even and especially family. He rarely showed any emotion. Adrien was often frightened of him. One might assume that a hug from him would be awkward and stiff.

But to Adrien, a hug from his father was a reminder that he cared. It just felt right, somehow. It was one of the few little ways that made Adrien remember how it was before his mother had disappeared...

Of course, the moment ended abruptly when Gabriel released Adrien and demanded why he had not stayed by his father's side in danger.

"I...I was scared," said Adrien. It wasn't a complete lie. "And I kind of...chickened out?"

"I see. We will discuss this further in the future," said Gabriel. "But for now, I think we can assume this meeting is adjourned. I'll have the limo brought out immediately." He pulled out his phone and made demands into it.

Adrien watched the others begin to leave. To his alarm, he saw the Osborns going with them. "H-hey! What about them?!" he said.

Everyone turned to look at the boy. Some hadn't even remembered he had been in the meeting. "What _about_ them?" asked another French-speaker.

"I, uh, well, that superhero person was telling me a blond man needed to be Ag—arrested?" stammered Adrien. He flushed under the many gazes.

"He's right!" exclaimed another French-speaker. Some translators, alarmed, told the others this. They all swarmed around the Osborns and kept them from the exits until the police could arrive to arrest Norman and question Harold.

Adrien, however, was long gone by then. He slumped in the back of the limo, too exhausted to perch on the edge of the seat like he usually did when his father was in the car. Gabriel was in the process of rattling off instructions for Nathalie to follow when he noticed Adrien's state. "...And find something for Adrien to eat, while you're at it," he added. "He looks drained."

"I can make a sandwich..." mumbled Adrien. He yawned. Gabriel ignored him.

"Anything for you, Sir?"

"No. I'll fix something later. That will be all, Nathalie."

His assistant nodded and ended the facechat.

* * *

Adrien obediently scarfed down the late dinner that Nathalie had prepared (he insisted that all he wanted was a sandwich or bread and cheese or something, but to no avail), which was a quiche of some kind. She had stuck a wheel of Camembert on his plate, as he had requested her do for all of his meals lately. She didn't really get why, but she figured that the teen just really liked the smelly cheese. Even with dessert.

Adrien stuck the cheese in his coat pocket. He had almost forgotten he was wearing the suit. "Eat up, Plagg," he whispered.

Two tiny black paws took the wheel graciously. "Ah, cheese, my love," he sang.

"You weirdo," chuckled Adrien. Nathalie was gone by now, probably to bed. As such, Adrien could speak freely to Plagg.

"Feh. You just don't get my adoration for creamy goodness," replied Plagg. "You made sure that that guy was arrested, right?"

"What do you take me for? I made sure to watch the news for it. And it was _all_ over the news. They even interviewed that Spider guy! He got pretty emotional about it." Adrien paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. "Hey, Plagg...you don't think Spider-Man has a Miraculous, too, do you?"

"Not that I know of," replied Plagg.

"Okay. Just making sure is all."

Plagg stuffed the cheese in his mouth.

"But to have your dad as a supervillain," said Adrien. He thought back in Harold Osborn and his icy glare at Chat Noir. "That must be an awful feeling..."

Plagg swallowed the cheese rather quickly. He didn't meet Adrien's eyes. "...Yeah. Awful."

The kwami glanced, just for a moment, in the direction of Gabriel Agreste's room.

* * *

 **Hey, look! I'm alive! I am so sorry I haven't actually been posting anything for a while. I've had a lot of school stuff going on, and college starts for me this fall! In truth, I have a lot of unfinished stories that I want to finish up and post, too. Somehow I managed to write this all down. Woo! I figured these two shows would collide nicely. I found Spectacular last year and absolutely adored it—even developed a bit of a cartoon crush on the Goblin (don't ask)! And Miraculous, I discovered around last Thanksgiving. I fell in love with it, too! Plus, as I'm taking French, I loved that it is a French cartoon.**

 **But I digress! Hope you enjoyed! God bless.**


	2. What to be done about Gwen and Harry

It was only when Harry was out of town that Peter felt safe to even talk to Gwen.

They never did anything friends wouldn't do, of course. It was usually just lunch or a movie or something platonic like that. After all, Harry and Gwen were the power couple of the decade; why break that up?

But Peter still hated seeing them together. Sometimes he just wanted to grab her arms and yell, "Leave him already!"

And now he had to stomach the sight of that expensive ring on her finger. Engaged. The word made Peter want to gag. Harry had made a big show of proposing to Gwen, on a big Jumbotron of some sort during a ball game. Peter saw through it, of course. Just another way of trapping Gwen—she was such a sweet girl; how could she possibly say no in front of all those cooing crowds?

Peter just about flipped a table when he found out about it. Harry himself had called and asked Peter to be his best man. And again, how could Peter refuse? Harry was finally warming up to him again, and to say no would just destroy any chance of Peter getting his best friend back.

But Harry wasn't the same, of course. The sweet, timid guy from before was replaced by this bold, manipulative, and vengeful man that Norman would probably have very much approved. Vengeful, because Harry was still out for Spider-Man's blood.

Evading Harry hadn't been easy. He'd sent out a good many villains to try and unmask Spider-Man. He didn't have the same careful sense that Norman had, though. Norman had wanted to control New York as a crime lord, while Harry just wanted to get rid of the guy whom he thought to have killed his dad. But he was getting more and more persistent. He used villains his dad had already created (Peter liked to think that Harry didn't have the heart to ruin any more lives with such dangerous experiments). Well, the ones who weren't in prison. That number tended to vary. And they still came. Over and over—constantly trying to unmask him, and failing. Clumsier effort than Norman, but much more direct.

Peter had to shake himself out of these thoughts. Harry was out of town. The unmasking attempts were quieter right now. And he was going to spend a lovely day with his good friend Gwen and nothing would happen.

He had to bite his tongue when he met her at the restaurant. Of course she looked great. She always looked great. "You look great," he flubbed.

Gwen smiled. "Thanks," she said. "So do you."

They sat down at a table. Peter fidgeted. He wanted to catch up, but he didn't want to seem too forward. This was the first time in a while since they had been able to really speak to each other, and he didn't know how to start. His eyes flickered to her ring.

"So you guys are—"

Gwen cut him off by placing her head in her hands. "Oh, what am I going to do?" she groaned.

Peter stopped. "What?"

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life with him! Not with this...this sociopath!"

"Gwen, calm down..."

"I can't! Soon I'm going to be 'Mrs. Harry Osborn!' I'm going to have the Green Goblin's grandkids!"

Peter made a face. "Well, when you put it like _that_ —"

"But if I say no, I'll be hunted down by the media, or by him! I wouldn't put it past him, the way he is now! What am I going to do?" she repeated.

Luckily, the place was very nearly empty, and nobody seemed to be paying attention to her spiel. "Listen, Gwen...if marrying him makes you sick to your stomach—no matter who he is or how rich and powerful he is—then that's a big red flag."

"But Harry will blame me for it," she said. "I know he will. That's who he is now."

"Gwen, listen. This isn't just some easy decision where nobody gets hurt. If you don't marry him, yeah, all right, he gets hurt. I can't sugarcoat that. But if you _do_ , then _you_ get hurt. You're just looking out for yourself."

"He won't see it that way."

Peter pounded a fist on the table. "Then _make_ him see! I hate seeing you like this, Gwen! And I'm sure everyone else does, too!"

"They don't know," she mumbled.

"That's not true."

Gwen shook her head. "I never told anyone we were having problems," she said, "except you."

Peter felt a bit touched that she trusted him like this, but he pushed that feeling out of the way. "And why is that?"

"They'd...probably tell me to leave him..."

Peter made a "see?!" gesture.

"But it's not that simple, Pete. What if...what if he goes back to the Green because of me? Because I dumped him?" she finished in a whisper.

Of course. That was it. That was the big thing driving her to go through with this. He knew that, but for this thing to control her even years since Harry had said it..."Gwen," said Peter. "You are one of the sweetest and most thoughtful girls I have ever met. And despite how much he's changed, I still care a lot about Harry, too." He took a deep breath. He'd been wanting to say this for years. "But it is _not_ worth sacrificing your own life just because he is holding this thing above you. Like it'd be 'your fault' that he started back on the Green. That is a cruel and manipulative thing that he's doing to you, and you're falling right into his trap if you go through with it and marry him."

Gwen looked stunned. "But...I..."

"Look, I can't make the decision for you. If you think you're 'strong enough' to keep suffering like this, then you go ahead and do it. I can't stop you. But if you open your eyes to how strong you _really_ are, then maybe you can do the right thing and break out of this relationship." Peter slumped back in his seat, but he still fixed a gaze full of emotion on Gwen.

Gwen's eyes were large and her face pale. She stared at her hands. She tried to speak, but her voice didn't seem to be working. She looked up at Peter. After a few seconds of being caught in her friend's intense stare, she stood up abruptly and walked out.

Peter stood as well and went after her, barging past their confused waiter who had come to take their drink orders.

"Gwen, wait!"

Gwen didn't seem to hear him, or at least pretended not to. She kept walking.

"Please! Gwen!" Peter ran. He caught up to her quickly and grabbed her shoulders. "Look, Gwen, I'm sorry, but it needed—"

She turned around in his grip, looking misty-eyed. "Pete..."

Peter broke off. Oh, no. He'd made her cry. Oh, crap. "Oh, Gwen, I didn't mean to—I just wanted—I was only trying to—"

"It's okay," she cut him off. "You're right. About all of it."

"I...I am?" Well, of course _he_ thought he was right, but he figured it'd take a lot more convincing on her part.

"Dad said pretty much the same thing," she admitted.

Peter frowned. "I thought you said—"

"I didn't tell him. He guessed. Like you said, he was able to figure it out."

Peter believed it. He was certain that the police chief had figured out that he was Spider-Man. To see through Gwen's assurances of "being okay" was probably easy for Officer Stacy. "And he said that you ought to leave Harry, too?"

Gwen nodded. "A part of me thought he was just being an overprotective dad...but then you said the same thing as he did."

"Did he guess about the Green?"

"Well...no. That part I did tell him, when he asked me why I really wanted to stay with Harry. And after I told him about its effects and about Harry's potential relapse, he pulled out a lot of statistics about drug users and toxic relationships and..." Gwen sighed. "Basically, it really freaked him out that I got caught in something like this."

"It's only because you're this sweet and amazing person," said Peter. "And you don't want to hurt anyone. That's something to be admired. It's just...people like Harry—like _this_ Harry—" (he still wanted so badly for Harry to go back to being the nice guy he used to be) "—will take advantage of that nature."

Gwen sniffled. "Thanks, Pete. You're the best guy I know."

"I know," Peter gently teased as he wiped a tear off her cheek. "Come on. Let's go get some Chinese food and watch some bad movies at my place. My treat."

Gwen smiled and nodded. "Yeah. That sounds great. Thanks, Pete. I lo—" She was broken off by the sound of a phone going off. She pulled it out and grimaced. "Speak of the devil."

Peter frowned. "Ugh, ignore it."

Gwen stared at the phone for a few moments. "He...gets really upset when I don't answer them," she said.

"Don't," warned Peter. "Don't talk yourself into going back to him."

Gwen gritted her teeth. She let out a deep sigh and clicked "Ignore."

Peter smiled and patted her back. "You're doing the right thing. How does it feel?"

"Feels...pretty okay," sighed Gwen. She turned her phone off. "Let's go get that Chinese, huh?"

Peter nodded. He smiled.

* * *

They were sitting on Peter's couch, just starting _The Room_ when Peter's phone went off.

Peter frowned and paused the movie. He checked his Caller ID. "Harry? What does he want with _me_?"

"Go ahead and see what he wants," said Gwen, articulating with her chopsticks. "I'm not here, remember?" She stuffed some noodles in her mouth.

Peter frowned and nodded. He stood and walked into another room. "Hello?"

" _Pete?_ "

"What's up, Harry?"

" _Pete, I'm in Paris and—and—you'll never believe—Dad's alive."_

Peter nearly dropped the phone. "WHAT?!"

From the other room, Gwen looked in Peter's direction with raised eyebrows.

" _It's true! He—he was the Goblin again and everything and these superheroes came in and—_ "

"Harry, Harry, you're losing me here. Slow down. Look, I'm happy for you—I really am—but how in the heck did he survive all the bombs?"

" _I guess the costume must have protected him from them. Maybe he had a great doctor. I'm not sure; he hasn't told me._ "

"And you're telling me the guy just shows up in Paris? As the Green Goblin? _Again?_ "

Gwen nearly choked on her food.

" _I can hardly believe it, myself! I had to tell someone! And since my fiancée didn't want to talk, I figured I could confide in my best man..._ "

Peter scowled. "Um...are you going anywhere with this, Harry?"

" _No. Are you?_ "

"Not at all. You said something about superheroes?"

" _Oh, yeah. Apparently they're these French heroes that save Paris all the time. Ladybug and Chat Noir._ "

"There's literally a French version of Black Cat?"

" _What? I don't know. Anyway, he and Ladybug apparently removed this...uh...akuma thing...that made him a supervillain again...it's, uh..._ "

"I can Google it."

" _Yeah. Google "akuma." A-K-U-M-A. That's what affected my dad._ " Several voices sounded in the background. " _I think they want to question me now. I gotta go. See you, Pete._ " He hung up.

Peter let out a long, slow breath. He walked back into the room where Gwen was. She stared.

"Harry's dad...is alive?"

"You caught that? Yep. He is. Oh, man," sighed Peter. He sank to the couch with his head in his hands.

"Are you all right?"

Peter looked up. Right. Gwen didn't know the full extent of this. This meant life was going to get a lot more complicated as Spider-Man. Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered pretending to be normal. "Yeah. I'm okay. I'm just shocked."

"Me, too, Peter. Me, too."

They ate the rest of their food without resuming the movie. They tried to make small talk, but they ended up just going back to the topic of Norman Osborn and how insane it was that he was alive and well.

"I mean, we buried him," said Gwen. "At least, we had a grave."

"I wonder if Harry still has a grudge on Spider-Man after this," said Peter.

Gwen chewed her sesame chicken thoughtfully. "I mean, on one hand, he's relieved his dad is okay, so he might give Spider-Man a pass."

"That's not so bad." Peter looked relieved.

"But," said Gwen, pointing her chopsticks at Peter, "he might also feel a sense of deranged victory that Spidey 'failed,' and go after him with renewed strength."

Peter cringed. "You think?"

"I've been engaged to this guy for over a month. I'm pretty sure he'd do that."

"Great..."

"Oh, you know Spider-Man. He'll probably quip his way out of it."

Peter grinned nervously. "Yeah, maybe."

Gwen shrugged. "But it's not really our business, anyway. Maybe this whole Norman event will at least help Harry though our breakup."

Peter's unhappy spirits suddenly soared. "You're really going to do it?"

"Oh, yes."

Peter gave Gwen a bear hug. "I am so proud of you!"

Gwen simply laughed. "Thanks. Didn't you tell Harry you were going to Google something?"

Peter released her. "Right, yeah. This 'akuma' thing that affected Norman." He pulled up Safari on his phone and Googled "akuma." Several results popped up with articles about supervillains in Paris.

They looked through the articles with interest. In doing so, they learned that most of these bad guys were just ordinary civilians who had been turned into villains. That was unlike a lot of Peter's experiences as Spider-Man, but it seemed to be easier to do than to fight a hardened criminal. The only real villain seemed to be a mysterious man called Hawkmoth.

"Hawkmoth? Ladybug? Those sound like total bug names. They're ripping off Spider-Man," laughed Gwen.

Peter shrugged. "Not really. I mean, Spider-Man has the power of a spider. This Ladybug girl seems to just be ladybug-themed. And Hawkmoth doesn't seem to be stealing anything from him."

"Oh, I was only teasing."

"But Chat Noir? That's too much like Black Cat."

"Black Cat is a thief, while Chat Noir seems to be another superhero. And he actually has powers."

"But their suits!" said Peter.

"...Are nothing alike!"

The conversation turned into playful bickering about the superheroes of Paris. After that finally died down, Gwen decided to go home and figure out how to break it off with Harry. Peter assured her he would be right by her side if she needed him. They exchanged a hug and Gwen left.

Peter was putting away the movie when he saw a breaking news report appear on his phone. It was about the newly rediscovered Norman Osborn. Peter skimmed over it. He found that several comments were wondering what Spider-Man wanted to say on the matter. Peter checked his watch. 3:37 PM. He and looked out the window. It was a bit early for a patrol as Spider-Man, but he wasn't doing anything else today.

* * *

 **Hi, all! I decided to do another chapter, with the encouragement of Sunny Lighter. Thanks, Sunny!**

 **I'll see if I can't flip back to this story from time to time, adding another chapter or so. There's no real game plan at the moment, and school is pretty busy at the time. We'll see.**

 **Also, disclaimer: I do not think Miraculous is in any way stealing from Spider-Man. I really don't. I just figured it would be funny if the characters thought so.**

 **Anyway, you all have a good week. God bless. :)**


	3. Jameson vs Cesaire, Part One

Alya nearly spat her coffee across the room.

Ignoring her raucous sisters, who were guzzling down cereal beside her, the teen bent down and examined her phone closely. She zoomed in on the article. There was just no way she was seeing this.

It was an article on the Daily Bugle's website, all about the return of the Green Goblin. The Daily Bugle was an American news station that usually seemed to be teeming with news about some bug-themed hero in New York. Alya sometimes looked around, in hopes of finding a relation to Ladybug of some kind—maybe Ladybug was an American with a great French accent! But Alya never saw the name crop up and quickly lost interest in the site.

Until now.

If her English was right—if she was to have a career that linked to the Internet, she had figured some English classes would be a good idea—then this article had offhandedly written off Ladybug as some Spider-Man impersonator that took care of the issue. Chat Noir wasn't even mentioned.

Alya hissed—literally hissed—at the phone and downed the rest of her coffee. She was going to need it.

* * *

Marinette could tell Alya was going to be a handful that day, based on her walk. The dark-skinned girl was storming through the hallway with a vengeance. "Uh, good morning, Al—"

Alya cut her off and grasped her shoulders. "Girl. GIRL."

"What?"

"GIRL."

"Yes, we have established that I'm a girl."

"Marinette, something terrible has happened!"

Marinette blinked a few times. "What? Is someone hurt?"

"Well, no, but someone is _about_ to be, believe me you. This guy—this reporter—OOGH!" Alya took a moment to stomp the ground in rage. " _I wish he was here to I could pound his stupid face in!"_ she yelled.

"What?! Alya! Calm down! What's the matter?"

"Look at _this_!" Alya shoved her phone in Marinette's face.

Marinette took the phone and squinted. "Hmm..."

"Right there. Read this paragraph."

"What's this word?"

"What? It means knockoff. A fake."

"They're calling Ladybug a ripoff of Spider-Man? Seriously?" said Marinette. She looked hurt. "Why would they do that?"

"I _know_ , right?"

Marinette folded her arms. "That's just unprofessional! Ladybug is not a ripoff!"

Alya nodded furiously.

"She's been around for thousands of years, right? Or, well, I guess the concept of Ladybug has...so wouldn't it be more accurate to consider that Spider-Man is a ripoff of Ladybug?"

Alya's eyes were huge. "I can't believe I didn't think of that! The nerve of those guys!"

Marinette put a hand on her chin. "Well, why don't you send in a letter? Demand that they represent Ladybug more respectfully?"

"That's not a bad idea," mused Alya. "I think I'll do that. Thanks!"

"Of course!"

Suddenly, the bell rang. Marinette blanched. "Oh, no! We gotta hurry to class!" She grabbed her friend's arm and tore towards homeroom.

* * *

Alya ground her teeth in thought. She wasn't paying any attention to the assignment at hand. How could she? Ladybug's integrity was at stake! Americans would read this newspaper and think that the French hero was just some wannabe! And Ladybug was anything but.

"Alya," said Marinette. "Do you really want to get a zero on this worksheet? It's not even that hard."

"I can't concentrate," sighed Alya. "I have to figure out what to write to that paper, even if it costs me good grades for a school day."

"I know you want to help Ladybug's image, but—"

"What's that about Ladybug?" interrupted Adrien, leaning back.

Marinette opened her mouth, but Alya spoke instead. "Some trashy American news article called her a ripoff of Spider-Man."

"What? No way! Who even is that? I mean, the name sounds familiar but..."

"The Green Goblin's _actual_ nemesis," replied Alya.

Adrien frowned. "Wasn't the Green Goblin an akuma?"

"He was a supervillain first. His akuma powers were identical to what his actual powers were as a supervillain in New York," Alya explained.

"Wow, someone did her homework," said Nino from beside Adrien. "Not really her schoolwork, but y'know..."

Alya just scowled at her boyfriend. "Of course I did! Ladybug is my _life_!"

"Calm down, Lois," said Marinette. "Now, think about what to say to the newspaper if it's bothering you so much. When you write, you want to be polite and civil—but reasonably disturbed by what they said."

"That's not what I want, though," said Alya.

Marinette frowned. "Alya. Showing a great deal of emotion in these situations is not going to help you."

Alya gritted her teeth. "But I'm angry. I'm _pissed_. And I want them to pay."

"Fine," said Marinette. She sat back in her chair. "But don't expect me to help when you don't get a reply." She went back to her assignment.

"Mari's right," agreed Adrien. "You can't get too emotional in these kinds of things. Trust me. Father never shows any emotion or bias to anyone in these kinds of things—unless he's really really angry."

" _I'm_ really really angry!"

"You'll get over it," said Adrien.

"No, I won't! Nino, back me up here!"

Nino jumped and shook his head. "What? No way am I getting involved. Someone always gets mad at me in the end—usually you! I'm staying out of this one. But you go get 'em, hon." He turned back around.

"It'll feel better to write something polite," said Adrien. "Trust me."

Alya huffed and turned away.

Adrien shrugged and went back to his assignment.

Alya was still upset at the end of class. She bitterly dumped her blank assignment on the teacher's desk, earning her a hard glare. She did not really care.

As Alya was getting her things together—Marinette had already left, since she was in no mood to deal with a fuming Alya—she heard footsteps behind her. Then, Cholé's voice.

"What's your deal, Al-yak?" snorted the snooty girl. "You were _really_ blowing off your 'pals' earlier, huh?"

"Buzz off."

"No," said Sabrina. _What a brilliant addition to the conversation_ , Alya thought.

"Anything that makes _you_ unhappy is a friend of mine," continued Chloé. "Spill."

Alya stood angrily. "Stop it. You don't need to remind me that you live for my misery."

Near her, a black butterfly approached.

"Um, duh. Now tell me!"

It flew close to Alya's phone.

Alya sighed a long sigh. "You really wanna know?"

It landed.

"Ladybug was trashed by this American news site."

The butterfly was absorbed into the ph—

" **WHAT?!** "

The butterfly was literally blown back from her screech. And enough of Alya's unhappiness had turned to surprise that the butterfly couldn't really do anything anymore...

Chloé's demeanor turned into that of pure hatred. "Some idiot American said something bad about LADYBUG?! What was it?!"

Alya nearly fell out of her chair from the ferocity of Chloé's shrieks. "Agh! Calm down, Godzilla!"

"Tell me! Someone is going to DIE!"

"They called Ladybug a ripoff of Spider-Man," Alya finally said. She felt the bile rising in her throat in indignation, just at the thought.

"What? WHAT?! Ohh, that is so NOT going to fly!" Chloé whipped out her cell phone. She furiously dialed.

"Hey, wait! This is _my_ mission of justice!"

Cholé paused and glanced at Alya. "I'm gonna need the name of that trashy paper," she mentioned. "Like, right now."

Alya shook her head. "Look. We can't just destroy their business for one stupid line. We have to be diplomatic."

"Diplomatic?" snorted Chloé. "Right. And I'm sure you were aaaall about diplomacy when you first read it."

Alya shrugged. "Well, yeah, it was a knee-jerk reaction. I'm still pretty pissed off about it."

"Then let me have that name so I can have it erased from existence!"

Alya considered it for a moment. She really did. She had essentially said these exact words to her friends. And Cholé had the resources; Alya knew she did. But...if it was _Cholé_ suggesting this little scandal, then it _had_ to be wrong...

Alya sighed. This would not be an easy choice. "How about this: first, I send them a strongly worded email, and see where it goes from there?"

Chloé looked scandalized. "What?!"

Alya sighed. "Look, I know _you_ can get what you want by screaming at people, but if I want to be a real reporter, I can't go firing off at the first person who says something stupid. Even using the word stupid might be pushing it!"

Chloé put a hand on her chin. "Wow. I, like, never actually thought about what it must be like to have to actually keep up appearances...I guess I'll let you do your little poor person thing, out of the kindness of my heart."

"I'm middle class, thank you."

"But," said Chloé, raising a perfectly manicured finger, "if those sleaze bags don't fix their little mistake, we do it _my_ way. M'kay?"

Alya nodded. "Done." She stuck out a hand to shake.

Chloé looked down at Alya's hand in disgust. She motioned to Sabrina, who went to shake Alya's hand by proxy. "Well, we better head down if we don't want to be late next class. Of course, I can be fashionably late for anything, seeing as Daddy can vouch for me. But you better run, Bigfoot." She trotted off.

Alya looked unbothered by the Bigfoot comment. Instead, her face scrunched up in thought at something else. "Did I just make a deal with...Chloé?" she asked herself.

It was at that time that the bell rang, and Alya had to bolt down to her next class.

* * *

She tried her best to be civil. She really had. That night she'd looked over her paper countless times, even sent it to Adrien and Marinette (Nino was a hideous writer, so she didn't bother with him) to make sure she was writing with utmost professionalism and dignity. Once she had gotten the all-clear, she'd sent the message to the editor-in-chief of the paper, J. Jonah Jameson.

Alya had even went through the trouble of painstakingly translating it into English for the man. Sure, he could have used Google Translate, but Alya figured it would be a good way to test her English, anyway. Even so, she certainly consulted Reverso more than once per sentence.

His reply came fairly quickly. And Alya, later on, figured that she'd seen the signs when she saw that it was in English, despite her explicitly stating that she was a French-speaker and that her English was still on a learning curve.

But she was so nervous that that never occurred to her when she clicked on the response. When she pasted it into a translation site, it read something to the effect of the following:

 _"Miss Césaire,_

 _"I have taken your complaints into consideration, and I have decided that I am not going to heed them. Your arguments are unfounded, and your belief in these vigilantes is, frankly, the kind of sentimentality I'd expect from a young person such as yourself."_

That was...disappointing. But he didn't stop there. Oh, no.

" _Spider-Man is a menace, and anyone or anything like him is also a menace. Your 'Ladybug' is just a crude French version of an already unneeded 'superhero.' All that those hero-types do is create problems and run away. I'm sure your country would understand_ that."

Alya colored. The "Frenchmen are cowards" joke. He _actually_ went there.

 _"And I read the 'Ladyblog' you directed me to...you owe me ten dollars for the dictionary I had to buy to do that. It wasn't worth the money, by the way. Your site is sloppy and gushy about how obsessed you are with Ladybug. I_ pay _someone to get me the Spider-Man pictures. Maybe leave the reporting to the professionals next time."_

The rest was just closing remarks that didn't really say anything new. But what Alya had read was enough to make her blood _boil._ J. Jonah Jameson hadn't just rejected her request—he had _insulted_ her. He had insulted Ladybug—he had even insulted France! Well, to be fair, that last one she had heard so many times that she was a tad de-sensitized to it—but it sure didn't help matters.

Civility was done. Alya was going to bring on the big guns.

She dialed Chloé's number.

 _"Uh, who is this and why do you have my_ personal _number?"_ came the voice from the other end.

"Chloé, it's Alya. We're taking that paper down."

A chuckle sounded. _"I knew you'd see it my way."_

* * *

 **I have to give a co-writing credit to Sunny Lighter—who is also now my beta** **—for the idea of these crazy kids teaming up. Truly, it is going to be a magnificent alliance.**

 **I have no idea how long it will take for me to write the next one, as I am graduating high school soon (woohoo!) and life is a bit hectic right now. But I hope I won't keep you all waiting too long.**

 **See you soon (I hope)! God bless. And a happy Mother's Day to all!**

 **-Shippings**


	4. The Trip

**Let me preface with some devastating news: this chapter is actually** ** _not_** **going to be the epic battle between Chloe and Jameson! But before you hit me with tomatoes, read the chapter. I got this idea and figured it'd be…interesting…if I did it like this instead. You'll see!**

 **(Also, I know I used the French method of telling time in the first chapter, but I'm just going to use the American method in this one—it's easier. Sorry to any OCD readers!)**

* * *

Marinette chewed her lip. "Chloé?"

"What?"

"Not that I'm not thrilled to be here or anything, but when you said you all were gonna destroy this guy, I thought you meant via the Internet. Or mail. Or something slanderous sent to his sponsors or something."

The blonde let out a haughty laugh. "Oh, come on. That'd be _boring._ This is the _only_ way to confront someone. I'm surprised none of you thought of it…well, considering your _low_ IQs, I guess it isn't _that_ shocking."

Marinette let out a long sigh. "But flying to _New York?_ Seriously?"

Alya glanced at Marinette. "She let me bring you, didn't she?"

" _That_ ," grumbled Chloé, "is only because Adrikins wouldn't come unless I brought you people along, too."

"But why bring Adrien?" argued Marinette. She wasn't really complaining, of course, but she didn't see the logic in it.

"Why _not_?" was Chloé's simple reply. "New York City, with Adrien by my side…" She let out a long, high-pitched, annoying sigh.

"Yeah, well," said Marinette, "just be sure not to let it slip what we're doing. My parents think I'm spending the weekend at Alya's place."

"My parents think I'm spending the weekend at _yours_ ," snickered Alya.

Marinette blanched. "Geez, I hope they don't call each other…"

"If they do, that's _your_ problem," huffed Chloé.

"Oh, come off it. Your dad did _not_ actually let you go off to New York in your private jet," said Alya.

"He did so!" snapped Chloé. "Daddy puts _complete_ trust in me."

"Gee, I'm sure," mumbled Marinette under her breath.

Alya set down her suitcase and fished through it. "I hope I remembered to pack it," she said.

"What?"

"Aha!" Alya withdrew a small book and zipped her bag. She stood and waved it in front of the two. "French-to-English dictionary," she said. "I picked it up after Chloé and I agreed on the trip."

"How handy!" exclaimed Marinette. "Geez, I wish I'd picked up one of those."

"Lucky me, I don't need a _dictionary_ ," sniffed Chloé. "Ugh, what is this, the first century?"

"Dictionaries weren't even a _thing_ until—"

"I enlisted Sabrina to do all my translations _for_ me," Chloé continued. "She knows enough English to get me through the trip. Plus, I don't have to talk to them."

"Them?"

" _Americans._ "

"Where _is_ Sabrina, anyway?" Marinette asked. "Isn't she usually with you, Chloé?"

"She's fetching the boys," replied Chloé. She made a face. "Your boyfriend had better bring some _very_ good music to play on the trip, Al-yak. He's going to be working the _entire_ time until we get there, got it? That's _to_ New York and _from_ New York, mkay?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Alya.

"Otherwise I'm making him pay regular plane fare!"

The dark-skinned girl waved a hand. "Come _on_ , Nino knows his music. I know that, you know that—everyone knows that. Have a little faith!"

Marinette felt her phone buzz. She peeked at it. "Oh! The guys and Sabrina must be here!" She ran out to meet them, a bit red at the prospect of seeing her beloved Adrien.

"So tell me the plan, again?" said Alya. "Y'know, for when we get there."

"You forgot? Seriously?"

" _No_. Well, maybe a little—I just want to jot it down on my phone!"

Chloé gave a dramatic sigh. " _Fine._ But I'm going to wait until everyone is here so I don't have to repeat myself _again_."

"Fair enough."

Once the boys, followed by Sabrina and Marinette, had filed in and greeted the other two girls, Chloé began.

" _So_ , I'm only gonna say this once, so you all better listen. Today's Friday. It'll take about 8 hours to get to New York, not counting the time it'll take to find a cab and our hotel—but that'll come later. Sabrina did some calculations—"

Sabrina gave a nod and a wave.

"—and this is what we came up with. It'll be 5:30 here when we take off. By the time we get to New York, it'll be 1:00 in the morning here and 7:30 PM there. So, it'll be about evening when we get there. You can go out and get pizza or something for dinner—do whatever you want to do in New York at night after we're checked in, but be sure to get back to the hotel before you get kidnapped or something. I don't want to fill out paperwork for you losers."

Alya stuck out her tongue.

"But the next morning is business. Alya and I are gonna deal with Jameson. That's us. Sabrina's coming with me to translate—if Alya wants to bring Marinette then she just better keep the Blue Wonder away from me."

Marinette huffed. "Well!"

"Adrien and Nino, you guys do…whatever you want to do. Come with or don't come with—I don't really care what _you_ do, Nino, but Adrien can be my cheerleader if he wants to!" Chloé winked at Adrien. Adrien pretended not to notice.

"After that, I guess we'll spend the rest of the day there. But I'm dragging your lame butts to a Broadway show that night so you better not make any plans."

"Even those of us you don't like?" exclaimed Alya.

"Yeah."

" _Why?_ "

"I don't have to justify myself to _you_. Just be thankful I'm not making you pay for it."

"And the next day?" prompted Adrien.

"Probably more negotiations, or something. I don't really have anything planned for then, so do whatever you feel like doing."

"What time are we leaving Monday morning?"

"The plane leaves at…ugh…4:00 AM."

Groans sounded throughout the room.

"You think _I_ want to wake up that early? No _thank_ you! But we gotta be back by, like, 6:00 PM here on Monday. And that means leaving New York at 4:00. Sorry."

Marinette frowned. "…So we _are_ missing school?"

"I already had Sabrina make excuses for everyone. I was _going_ to have them made for just me and Adrien, but Al-yak pointed out that we'd draw suspicion if it was just the two of us, so I _painstakingly_ had them taken care of for all of you. You all better _worship_ me when we get home. _WORSHIP!_ "

There were faint disbelieving murmurs through the group.

Chloé grabbed Sabrina's arm and looked at the redhead's watch ("A watch would _so totally_ clash with my outfit, duh!") "It's about that time, losers. I hope you all brought clean underwear or whatever because we're going to the plane, _now._ Chop chop!" She walked off, Sabrina following.

"We'd better go, too," said Alya. "You got everything, Mari?"

"Yeah." Marinette looked skeptical as she picked up her luggage.

Alya looked at her friend as the pair walked towards the plane. "What's wrong?"

"Alya, she…she basically planned a _vacation_ for us."

"So? Free trip to New York! Score, right?"

"I dunno…I just feel _bad_ about going to New York without my parents—without even telling them!"

"It's not a burden on their bill, and you brought enough money to spend. No problem!"

Marinette sighed. "Not to mention, _I'm_ going to be in Chloé's debt after this…"

"Don't you think that, Marinette. Don't you dare. If this is about what Chloé said about worshipping her just now, don't pay her _any_ heed. She's doing this of her own accord—nobody's forcing her to. She just wants to make you _think_ you are. Anyway, if she told someone you went to New York without permission, she'd be telling them about _her_ trip, too—and I happen to know that her dad has no idea about this little trip. She can't do _anything_ to you. I want you to come along and I want you to have a good time. Okay?"

Marinette managed a smile. "Okay."

"Awesome! And anyway, the one you should really feel bad for is Nino. He's going to DJ for the _entire voyage!_ "

"Poor guy…"

"Aw, he'll enjoy it, I'm sure. Now let's board this plane, all right?"

"Yeah!" They got onto the jet and took their seats.

There was really only one cabin for the passengers, including a snack bar and a little DJ booth that Chloé had demanded be installed. Chloé and Sabrina nabbed some plushy seats near the window and immediately slipped on silk sleep masks. Nino dumped his bag next to the DJ booth and got to work setting up. Adrien politely greeted the pilot and Chloé's butler (he was to chaperone them during the voyage) and settled down in a middle seat near Nino's booth. Alya dragged Marinette towards a pair of seats behind the boys so they could talk.

"So, guys!" said Adrien once the plane had taken off. "Are you as excited as I am for this?"

"Sure are!" said Alya.

"Adrien," said Marinette, "how did you manage to get your dad's okay for something like this?"

Adrien shrugged. "I told him I was going to spend the weekend with Chloé in New York."

"And he…allowed it?"

"It wasn't interfering with his life, and my schedule was thankfully light this weekend, anyway. I honestly doubt he really heard what I was doing."

Marinette gave a sympathetic expression, while Alya let out a laugh. "So it's the guy whose dad has a tight leash around him who actually told the truth this time? That's hilarious!"

" _Alya!_ " hissed Marinette.

But Adrien didn't seem to think it was inappropriate—he chuckled along with Alya. "I guess it is pretty ironic!"

"What's ironic is that there's no tunes going on up in here," Nino spoke up.

"What's ironic about that…?"

"I dunno! Music! Bazang!" Nino slapped a button and pop music blared from the speakers.

"And you're okay with basically working for free?"

"I'm not working for free. I'm working for a trip to New York! And, my dude and dudettes, that's pretty rockin'."

"If you're cool with it," said Alya, "then that's your biz. Just make sure you get some sleep when you can—I want you to be awake when we go out for New York pizza!"

"I am always awake when pizza's involved."

"You guys, I hope at least one of you is a good English speaker," mentioned Adrien. "I can only say very simple sentences, and I don't think Chloé's gonna lend Sabrina out for all of us…"

"I'm okay," said Alya. "I have some lessons and a dictionary."

"What, English?" said Nino. "I'm practically fluent."

"Wait, what?"

"My dad's from America. I speak English at home sometimes, and not many relatives on his side speak very much French."

"When were you gonna tell me this?" asked Adrien.

"You never asked, dude!"

"The guy who's failing in every subject in school speaks English as a second language…"

"I'm not half bad, myself," mentioned Marinette.

"So we're all pretty okay at it! Awesome!" said Nino, offering Marinette a fist bump. Marinette smiled and bumped his fist, very nearly saying "pound it."

"Except for me, huh?" said Adrien.

"You have an excuse; you speak frickin' Chinese!" said Alya. "You speak it better than the girl with _actual_ Chinese blood."

Marinette shrugged. "Well, what of it? Mom never taught me Chinese, sue me."

"Keep it _down_ back there!" came Chloé's dissonant voice from the front. "I'm trying to listen to the _music!_ "

Alya rolled her eyes. "Ignore Her Highness…"

"Oh, let's throw her a bone," said Adrien in a low voice. "Despite how she'd _never_ admit it, she is doing a nice thing for us."

"Only because she thinks it'd impress _you_ ," mumbled Marinette.

"Well, for once, it actually kinda does." At the others' incredulous looks, Adrien clarified. "That is, it impresses me that she'd do something for other people like this. It lets me hope that she'll maybe end up being a pretty okay person down the road—that sort of thing. Besides," he added, "we really ought to try and get some sleep while we can."

"Yeah…"

"I guess…"

"Hey!" said Nino. "What about me? If she catches me slacking, she'll throw me out with a parachute!"

Adrien raised an eyebrow. "Do you want us to take shifts or something?"

"…Yes!"

"Geez…"

Luckily for Nino, Chloé and Sabrina both dozed off fairly early on. The others fell asleep on and off again, managing to balance Nino time with sleepy time as they headed for New York…

* * *

 **Waddya think? With the group headed to New York for approximately two days—and with Ladybug** ** _and_** **Chat Noir coming—only good things can come. Only good things. I hope my explanations for how this all came to pass were at least somewhat believable!**

 **Hope you enjoyed, you guys! God bless.**

 **Shippings**


	5. New Yorkers really aren't all that bad

**Wow, it's been a while since I updated this. I apologize; I had to deal with a rather strenuous summer job (babysitting, if you want to know).**

 **Now, there is a lot of switching around, language-wise. One character's dialogue is written in English and then suddenly, that character can't speak English? Might get confusing, I get it. So, here's how it works:**

 **-When two French characters are conversing, they're speaking in French, even though the dialogue is written in English (that's just so you readers can understand that they are saying).**

 **-When a French character and an American character are conversing, it is in English with extra French (actually written in French) tossed in.**

 **Please let me know if anything is confusing, or if you find an error in my French writing!**

 **(And did you see that bee kwami M. Astruc posted? Adorable!)**

* * *

Chloé was waiting by the room door when the others arrived. "It's about time," she huffed.

"Sorry, Chloé," said Alya, "it's not like we all have personal butlers to bring our stuff up for us."

"Not to mention he used all the carts for your fifty bags!" added Nino. He was holding two bags of his own. "I've got heavy and sensitive equipment in here!"

"Not my problem." Chloé gingerly handed Marinette and Alya two room keys, making sure to dust her hand off on her pants after she did so.

Alya seethed while Marinette rolled her eyes.

Chloé handed Adrien two room keys, making sure to let her hand linger on his. He smiled nervously and pulled his hand back to give the other key to Nino.

"You," said Chloé, pointing to Alya, "as much as I do _not_ want to spend extended time with you, we better get our thoughts together with what we tell Jameson. The others can go."

Alya snorted. "Fine, Your High and Mighty-Ness. But you better not keep me all night."

"Feh! You _wish_ you could spend extra time with someone like _me_. It'll be a half hour at most."

" _That's about a half hour too much_ ," mumbled Alya, but she agreed.

Marinette, Adrien, and Nino made as to leave, but Chloé stopped them. "Oh, Adrien?" she sang.

"Yes?" he responded politely.

"We are dining at an exquisite restaurant tonight. Just you and me. I made reservations."

"Oh, but the others and I were wanting to try out a pizza pla—"

"But my _reservations_ , Adrien!" Chloé pouted. "It was _super_ expensive and I can't get a refund!"

Adrien let out a small sigh. He shot an apologetic glance at the others. "Maybe we can go for pizza tomorrow?" he said.

"Sure, bud," said Nino.

"Hey," said Marinette to Alya, "maybe this means you and Nino can find a nice place and have a date!"

"But what about you?" said Alya.

Marinette waved a hand. "I'll be fine. I'll scope out the pizza beforehand and tell you whether or not it's worth eating."

"Speaking of being alone," noted Alya. "Sabrina, what are _you_ going to do?"

"Oh, I'm going to stay in here tonight," said Sabrina. "I must schedule an appointment with Jameson. And Chloé wants me to do some research about the city. Don't worry about me. I'll order room service." The diligent assistant looked perfectly content with her plans.

Marinette frowned. "You're doing work on a trip to New York City? That doesn't sound like fun at all!"

"It does to me!"

Marinette looked skeptical, but Alya gave her a look that said, "Drop it."

Nino set down a bag for a moment and checked his watch. "Well, then, I better get ready. I have a date with a pretty lady, and I haven't even picked out the location!" He gave a wink to Alya and slipped into his room.

Alya laughed.

Adrien looked over at Marinette. "You're sure you'll be okay on your own?" he said.

"Of course!" In a lower tone she mumbled, "It's _you_ I'm worried about."

Adrien shook his head. "It's fine. I'm used to this sort of thing," he said quietly.

Chloé, who had not heard their exchange, clapped her hands. "Hello? Nino isn't the _only_ one going on a date with a pretty girl! Not that I really think _his_ date is all that pretty."

Alya huffed.

"Chop-chop, Adrikins~!"

Adrien forced a smile. "Of course!" He excused himself and went into his room.

"Let's go, Al-yak," said Chloé, grabbing her arm in an iron grip.

"Hey! Don't I get a chance to put up my stuff?!"

"There's time for that later!" Chloé dragged her into her hotel room. Sabrina followed suit and then Marinette was alone.

* * *

The blue-haired girl went into her and Alya's room and dropped her suitcase onto one of the beds. She flopped onto one with a sigh.

"What's wrong, Marinette?" came Tikki's voice. She flew out of the Miraculous and came to hover before Marinette.

"I just feel so bad for Adrien," Marinette confessed. "I mean, a date with _Chloé_? Does he even have the stamina?"

"Don't worry, Marinette. With all Adrien has to go through, she's the _least_ of his problems."

Marinette quirked an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean? His dad might be a strict and stone-faced guy and he may be busy all the time, but it _can't_ be that bad..."

"Oh, I guess not," Tikki said shortly. It seemed like she knew more than she was letting on, but she changed the subject. "Anyhow, what do you plan on doing tonight? You'll be in your own in the big city."

Marinette smiled. " _Well_...we all know Marinette will be on her own...and so is someone else."

"Who, Sabrina?"

"No, Tikki! _Ladybug_!" said Marinette.

" _What_?!"

Marinette looked excited. "Yeah! Imagine it—Ladybug visits New York! I really really want to meet this Spider-guy they keep talking about. I want to compare powers and abilities and—"

" _Marinette_ ," scolded Tikki. "It will be a lot easier for people to discern your identity if you and Ladybug both just _happen_ to be in New York."

"That's the genius of it! Nobody knows I'm here!"

"That's not true. I can think of _five_ people who know you are here—one of them being equivalent to a whole team of paparazzi!" Tikki said.

Marinette frowned. "That's true...but these buildings! How cool would it be to jump across them?"

"Marinette, I know you want to explore from a different perspective than most tourists, but this is extremely dangerous. You can do what you choose, but my suggestion is to stay out unless Ladybug is really needed."

Marinette chewed her lip for a bit—then sighed. "You're right..."

"But you can still explore the city as Marinette! It'll be fun!"

Marinette smiled. "Yeah. Yeah! This'll be cool." She stood and took her purse. "Let's go see if American cookies are as good as French ones."

"Hee hee, that's a tall order!" said Tikki.

Marinette put on a jacket with a rather tall collar. "You can hide in here and we can talk on the way."

"Great thinking! And don't forget to bring your room key with you."

"Will do," said Marinette. She grabbed it and headed out. Tikki flew into her collar as she walked off.

* * *

New York was _tall._

Marinette had unknowingly stridden right into Times Square. Was it a sight to behold in the night! The electric billboards glowed radiant and everywhere she looked she could see people. There were many advertisements in English. She recognized a great deal of them, especially the prominent Coca-Cola sign. She couldn't help but utter, " _Wow_..."

"Boy, they're right to call it the city that never sleeps," Tikki said from inside Marinette's collar.

"Aren't they just?" breathed Marinette.

The moment was interrupted as someone bumped past her. He shot her a dirty look as he went by.

Marinette frowned. "That wasn't very nice."

"It's New York, Mari. People are kinda mean."

"I'd figured that was a stereotype."

"It is," affirmed Tikki, "but sometimes it can ring true."

Marinette walked forward and did her best to match the pace of everyone else. She noticed something odd in front of a different hotel. "Are those people in costumes?"

"Yes," said Tikki, "that's not uncommon here."

Marinette grimaced at one poorly-made Mickey Mouse costume that seemed to _stare_ at her. "They're...creepy..."

Tikki's stomach suddenly let out a loud rumble. She blushed. "Oop!"

Marinette laughed. "We better get you some food!"

"If that's all right..."

"I'm pretty hungry, too. Let's go find a restaurant."

It was on a road off of Times Square where they found an inexpensive convenience store that had freshly baked cookies. Marinette figured it would be best to stock up just in case before she herself went to eat. It took Marinette a few minutes to figure out how she was going to order, since she had to do it in English.

"You can do it, Mari," said Tikki.

"I can do this. I can do this. Okay!" Marinette confidently strode up to the cashier.

"Hey, what do you need?" said the man.

Marinette took a deep breath and spoke in broken English. "I...would like a...um...cookie. Uh, five. Five of...cookies."

"Five cookies," said the cashier. He rung it up and bagged five chocolate chip cookies. "That'll be $7.86."

Marinette pulled out several euros out of habit. It was when she set them on the table that she froze.

"Something the matter?"

" _Zut_ ," she said. _"J'ai oubliée_ —I—I forgot to—uh—"

The man glanced down at the money she had laid on the table. He picked one up. "Euros, huh?" he said. He slid it back.

Marinette looked terrified. " _Je suis desolée, j'ai completement oubliée, je suis une idiote..._ " She was so worried he was going to be one of those "rude New Yorkers" that she was rambling.

"Hey, hey, don't worry about it," the guy cut her off.

Marinette stopped short.

He offered a kind smile. "I've been there before. First time I came here, I forgot to change my money out, too. Tried to pay for a soda in Columbian pesos. That didn't go so well." He chuckled. "Might as well give you a better first impression." And he offered her the bag of cookies.

"Huh?"

"Just this once. It's on the house."

Marinette tilted her head.

"That means it's free," the guy laughed.

"It is?"

"Sure! We New Yorkers aren't all bad."

It finally clicked for Marinette that this man was being genuine. She gave him a big smile. " _Merci beaucoup_!" she said. She took the bag.

" _De nada,_ " he said. "Don't forget to change out those euros next time, though."

"I won't!" she promised.

He waved as she headed out.

* * *

"What a very nice man!" squeaked the kwami.

"Yeah. Gosh, I sure hope the others remembered to do their exchanges...I'll text them now." Marinette sent them a reminder in a group chat, and put her phone up. "How about we get you one of those cookies?"

"Sure!"

But as Marinette made as to get a cookie out, she heard something that rattled her.

Screaming.

"It's coming from Times Square," Tikki noted.

Marinette ducked into a nearby alley. "Sounds like Ladybug is really needed," she said.

"Let's pray your friends remain ignorant," Tikki sighed.

Marinette struck a pose. "Tikki, spots on!"

* * *

Ladybug leapt onto a building and waited. "Where are you..." she mumbled. It took her a few moments to find the source of everyone's worries. Someone or some _thing_ was flying around and throwing objects at people. Ladybug paled when she saw that they were bombs.

To the people's credit, they were able to make themselves scarce when a bomb hit, and the explosions were quite small, but Ladybug was worried that they wouldn't be lucky for long. She grunted and whipped out her magic yo-yo. She hurled it at the evildoer's glider—strangely, it reminded her of that Green Goblin fellow from a while ago.

The villain started when her yo-yo wrapped around his glider. "Well, well, I was hoping I'd find you here, Spider-Man!" he cackled. He turned to face his assailant and paused. "You're not Spider-Man."

Ladybug simply growled and threw her yo-yo at him. It wrapped around his chest, pinning his arms around him.

"So much for manners," he sighed, and he withdrew a pumpkin-themed boomerang from his waist.

Ladybug gasped. "Green...Goblin?" she asked.

"Close," said the villain. He sliced the yo-yo string off of him.

" _Ah, non!_ " she cried. She grasped at the broken strings, but suddenly she'd been shoved off.

Ladybug was plummeting to the ground without a way to save herself.

She let out a shriek and the whole crowd let out screams. Ladybug shut her eyes tightly, silently apologizing to Chat Noir for having let herself die so quickly—

—when suddenly, someone caught her.

" _Chat_?!" she gasped. She opened her eyes and she did not see her partner in crime.

"And here I thought _I_ was the only big bug in town!" Spider-Man, in the flesh, was looking down at Ladybug with what she assumed was a grin. She nervously smiled back. He landed easily and set her down.

Ladybug leapt up and scrambled for her yo-yo. She found it by her side like usual. _It must have regenerated...Thank goodness._

"I know you," Spider-Man said. "You fought one of my old foes. Actually, you finally got him arrested when we all though he was dead. Thank you for that."

"Oh! It's nothing."

"You're Ladybug, right?"

" _Oui_. That is me."

"I guess you got a bit of inspiration from yours truly, huh?"

Ladybug huffed. "That is untrue," she said. She spoke English more confidently as Ladybug, some part of her noticed. "The idea of the Ladybug is older than you. Much! _Beaucoup plus agée!_ "

"It was just a joke! What's all this about the concept of...?" Spider-Man shook his head. "No. I gotta focus on the Hobgoblin. He's my main problem right now."

"You want that I help you?" Ladybug asked.

"Aw, come on, I'm Spider-Man! I don't need—"

He was cut off by an explosion near them that blew them both off of their feet. Above them, the Hobgoblin let out a loud cackle. Ladybug landed easily into a crouch while Spider-Man landed on his face. "Ow..."

"I will help you," said Ladybug with a smirk. She offered the other hero a hand.

"All right, all right. I give." Spidey took it.

* * *

As of late Adrien had grown to dislike many fancy things. This restaurant was no exception. He drummed his fingers on the table as Chloé rambled on about nothing.

"...and _I_ thought that the idea was just ridiculous! I mean, a _plaid_ shirt! _Plaid_ , Adrien! What a fashion disaster!"

"Uh-huh."

"Not like us. We're, like, elites walking around _garbage_ people."

Adrien sighed. "The others are my friends, you know."

"Oh, Adrien. You're too nice for your own good," Chloé said in a patronizing tone.

"Mmm."

"But really, the _only_ people at our school actually _worth_ anything would be you and— _Ladybug_?"

Adrien spat out his soda. " _Who told you? What do you know?!_ "

Chloé pointed outside. "All I _know_ is that that's _Ladybug_!"

Adrien turned around to look at the window, and sure enough, there was Ladybug, swinging around and trying to hit some guy and—and that Spider-guy was with her! A sudden wave of jealousy washed over him. How dare she get a new partner! She thought she could run on over to New York and fight crime without Chat? Well, she would have another thing coming!

"Aw, oh, oh man," Adrien said suddenly.

"What?"

"Darnit, uh, my stomach, ow, it's really hurting! I really shouldn't have had that, uh..." He clutched his tummy.

"Salmon croquettes?"

"Yeah, those! Oh, ow, I might be in there a while. Sorry, Chloé! I'm gonna have to miss dessert!" Adrien stumbled out and ran towards the bathroom.

"Hey! You just want to see the Ladybug fight! _Hey! Don't leave without me_!"

* * *

"Somebody's _jealous_!"

"Shut it, Plagg!" hissed Adrien. He had ducked into the bathroom just to be more believable. He was now sitting in a stall. "I have to figure this out. I gotta get out of here without Chloé seeing me as Chat."

"Why so eager to get out there? Surely Ladybug and her new bugfriend have it covered."

" _Stop it!_ "

Plagg snickered. "Ladybug and Spider-Man, wrapped up in a tree! K-I-S-S—"

" _Plagg, claws out!_ "

"Aw, come on, I was just _kiiiiiiiiiding_!" Plagg screeched as he was sucked into the ring.

Chat Noir hummed. "Let's see, to get away from her...I go...aha! Through the window!" He went to the nearest window and was thankfully able to open it with a little force. He flung himself out and found himself landing on a fire escape. "Hey! That was surprisingly lucky!"

Then a bomb landed near him and he was flung out.

" _Less lucky_!" he screamed. He started to fall.

Of course, the heroes were right nearby. Spider-Man and Ladybug swooped down to snatch him. They landed on the building nearby.

"Chat Noir!" exclaimed Ladybug.

"He's here, too!" said Spider-Man.

In French, Chat said, "Ladybug! Fancy meeting you here!"

"What are you doing in New York?" said Ladybug.

"What are _you_ doing in New York?" countered Chat.

"I'm on a trip with my friends, I—did you _follow_ me?"

Chat looked offended. " _No_! Why would I follow you? We don't even know each other's identities!"

Spider-Man, of course, couldn't understand a lick of what they were saying. "Guys?"

"So we both just happened to be in New York at the same time? Seriously?" said Ladybug. "Are these even coincidences anymore?"

"What do you mean?" said Chat.

In English, "Guys?!"

"I _mean_ , what if we're connected somehow, in our civilian forms?"

"Ooh, you already know how much I want to connect with _you_ , My Lady."

Ladybug made a face. "Don't be gross!"

He blanched. "Wait, no, I wasn't trying to make it sound like that!"

"GUYS?!"

They looked up to see a barrage of bombs headed their way. Chat shrieked. They managed to dodge them.

"Next time, pay attention," said Spider-Man.

" _Quoi?_ " said Chat Noir.

"Let's go!" Ladybug said in English. She leapt off of the building to go after the villain.

Spider-Man followed suit, grabbing onto Chat. The teen snarled indignantly, but Spidey paid no heed. He followed Ladybug with Chat thrown across his shoulder, the cat hissing and spitting French curses the whole way.

* * *

The Hobgoblin was armed and dangerous, but he was rather inexperienced in combat. At least, the kind of combat that Spider-Man and co. delivered. Most of his methods involved hurling weapons and swerving to avoid attacks using his glider.

"Let's see," Ladybug mused in French. "He relies mostly on his weapons and his height. Without them it shouldn't be hard to incapacitate him. We need to deactivate the glider."

"What?" said Spider-Man in English.

Chat Noir ignored him. "Well, if you can get me close to the guy, I can use Cataclysm to destroy the glider."

"Hmm..." said Ladybug. "That's good. But I think it'd be better for Spider-Man to get you up there. With his webs and all."

Chat squirmed. "Yeah, but I'd rather _you_ helped me."

"I'll be busy."

"Maybe I can use my staff?"

Ladybug massaged her temples. "Chat, please, _please_ don't do this. I'm really not up for debating right now. Can you just go with it?"

Chat let out a long sigh and said, "Fine."

"What's the plan?" said Spider-Man to Ladybug.

In English, she said, "You have to get Chat towards the villain so that he can destroy the glider."

"Destroy the glider? How's he gonna do that?" The kid was no Hulk, that was for sure.

"Trust me."

Spider-Man looked confused, but he gave a nod. "All right...?"

The Hobgoblin had lost sight of them, and was looking around. "Oh, _insects_ ," he sang, "where _are_ you...?"

The heroes had fashioned a slingshot made of web material. Chat made as to move, but Ladybug stopped him. " _Attends_. Wait for my signal," she added in English for Spider-Man.

" _D'accord_."

"Got it."

The heroine's eyes were narrowed. She waited in a crouch for the villain to come into view. Just a bit closer...closer..." _ALLEZ_!"

"Eat _this_ , you Green Goblin wannabe!"

Spidey pulled back, and the cat _flew_ right towards the glider. He rammed straight into the Hobgoblin.

"HEY! Hitch a ride somewhere else!"

Chat raised a hand. " _Cataclysme_!" he exclaimed.

Spidey kind of jumped when he saw Chat's hand glow with black...energy? Was this some kind of symbiote?

"What in the world?!" screeched the Hobgoblin.

Chat brought his glowing hand down onto the glider. It aged and crumbled beneath the Hobgoblin—and himself.

"What did you _do_?!" cried the villain. "My precious technology! Now we're _both_ going to die!" Indeed, they were both plunging to the concrete and screaming citizens.

But the Hobgoblin found himself wrapped in webbing a moment later. "Aw, you didn't forget me _that_ easily, did you?" said Spider-Man. The young adult moved so that he was at the Hobgoblin's face. "And it isn't _your_ technology. It's Oscorp's."

The Hobgoblin just made an angry face.

Chat, meanwhile, had been rescued by Ladybug. "Thank you, My Lady," he said.

"Sure," she said, bringing him back up by the building. She withdrew her yo-yo and sighed. "What _was_ that back there?"

"What?"

"The whole 'I don't want to work with Spidey' thing."

Chat groaned. "You're giving him _nicknames_ now?"

Ladybug's brow furrowed. "Chat, you're not... _jealous_ , are you?"

"What? Me, jealous! Ha! That's a riot," Chat said in a very, _very,_ forced tone. "What, just because you find a new partner in a matter of days who's a lot more useful and similar to you than me? Why would I be jealous?"

Ladybug frowned. "Chat, why would you think I'd abandon you like that? Spider-Man and I are _not_ partners. It just so happened we're both superheroes fighting a common enemy. You joined up with us not long after I met him."

Chat was silent.

Ladybug sighed and put a hand in his shoulder. "It's not like you to be this possessive, Kitty. What's the matter?"

Chat let out a sigh and kicked the ground. "I don't _know_...I was on this pretty lousy date I was forced into and I was feeling down in the dumps, and seeing you and him fly around...I guess I let my emotions get the best of me."

Ladybug have a sympathetic smile. "I get it. I've got a friend in that position right now, and he's probably pretty jealous his friends are doing what they want to while he pacifies this girl."

"Exactly! She's just so...so...I can't stand it. She used to be so nice."

"Chat, why are you on a date with her to begin with?"

"Because she—" They were interrupted by a loud beeping. Chat blanched. "Oh, man! My ring! I'm gonna change back soon!"

"Oh! You better head to an alley or something!"

Chat nodded. "See you around, Ladybug." He lingered for a moment. "And...thanks." He smiled and leapt off.

Spider-Man was just returning as Chat headed off. "Well, I got everything sorted out with the police," he said, dusting his hands. "Thanks for your help, Ladybug."

She bowed. " _Mon plaisir,_ " she said.

"Hey, what's the deal with the cat, by the way? I'm guessing you're partners. I mean, I'm not trying to assume that two French-speakers _have_ to know each other, I just—"

"It's all right. He is my partner, Chat Noir," Ladybug said. She smiled. "And a very good friend."

Spider-Man whistled. "Man. Must be great to have a friend outside of the superhero world who _gets_ it, you know?"

"Well, I don't know who he is. But the, uh...how do I say... _personnages_ of Ladybug and Chat Noir are forever linked."

"I don't follow."

"We are bound by magic."

Spider-Man coughed. "I think you mistranslated there. Magic doesn't exist."

Ladybug shook her head. "But it does. You saw his hand, yes? When he destroyed the glider? That is magic."

"I'm sure there's a scientific explanation."

" _Non._ " Ladybug sounded peeved. "The Miraculous are magical devices that give powers to heroes. Myself and Chat Noir, we are bonded by the powers to create and destroy. You saw his power. There was not a need for my own this night. But it is of mystic origin, you must believe me."

Spider-Man shrugged. "Well...I guess I can see where you're coming from. Not everything has an explanation...yet."

Ladybug sighed. "I had better leave. I did not have dinner, and I have to eat _something_."

"Lucky you, I happen to know the ins and outs of this excellent city." Spider-Man listed the names of several restaurants he called "the best in town."

"Thank you!" said Ladybug. "My friends and I, we will very much appreciate this."

"Sure!"

"New Yorkers are kinder than they tell me," noted the heroine.

"Eh, it matters more on the person than the city. I'm happy to help a newcomer. Don't expect kindness from everyone, though. There are some real nutcases around here." Spider-Man leaned in and muttered, "Especially certain newspaper editors."

Ladybug raised an eyebrow.

Spider-Man glanced at the time on a nearby ad. He jumped. "What?! 10:00 already?! I _gotta_ get out of here if I want to be on time tomorrow. I'll see you around, Ladybug!" He gave a wave and swung off.

Ladybug waved back. She found she liked this Spider-guy. She found she liked this city a lot more than she thought she would.

She made as to leave, and suddenly realized how ruined the areas hit by bombs were. And there weren't any civilian casualties (thank goodness), but there were some injuries. _I didn't fight an akuma, but maybe Miraculous Cure would work?_

Shrugging, Ladybug summoned Lucky Charm anyway. Nothing much appeared. It was just a bouncy ball with a ladybug print. Ladybug knew instinctively that it was a placeholder. She threw it into the air. " _Miraculous Ladybug!_ " she exclaimed.

Everything was fixed. Injuries healed, buildings fixed, even the glider restored. Policemen were confused (they'd sworn the cat character had destroyed it), but they seized it anyway as evidence. Everyone in the area was shocked, but they couldn't find how everything was fixed. Ladybug didn't feel like explaining what she had done (she was tired, hungry, and not in the mood to chat with civilians in a tongue she was still struggling to speak), so she had left the scene. It wasn't like she'd hurt anyone, anyway.

Ladybug detransformed in a secluded area. Marinette went to one of the places Spidey had recommended and got herself some dinner. She actually found it quite relaxing to eat alone, sometimes talking to Tikki (who was nibbling on one of the cookies) but mostly staying quiet and reflective.

Marinette was utterly exhausted when she got back to the hotel. She passed by Adrien, who looked similarly exhausted (given he was on a date with Chloé, she wasn't surprised). They bid each other goodnight in the hallway and Marinette stumbled into her hotel room.

Alya wasn't back yet. Marinette was glad, since she didn't really feel like talking to anyone right now. She told Tikki good night and flopped onto her bed, with clothes and shoes and makeup still on.

It was one of the best rests she'd had in a while.

* * *

 **Kitty cat's kinda jealous, huh? Good thing Peter already likes Gwen.**

 **Thanks again to Sunny Lighter for being my beta!**

 **Thanks for reading; hope you liked. And a happy early 4th of July to you all! :)**

 **God bless,**

 **-Shippings**


End file.
